A student at the University of California at Berkeley, Edmund has taken time off this year to serve as deputy campaign manager on Rep. Ernest J. Istook Jr.'s campaign for Oklahoma governor. Edmund contacted Jones, a well-known Oklahoma City trial lawyer and Republican Party member who was appointed to represent Timothy McVeigh after the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. Jones said he believed fellow Republicans referred Edmund to him.

The message transcripts show a humorous, sometimes self-conscious high school student who showed an easy familiarity with Foley. Engaged in a typical round of teen dances and lacrosse games, he at one point asked the congressman for help getting into a fundraiser for Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif.).

Cunningham, who resigned from the House last year after pleading guilty to taking bribes, was Edmund's sponsor in the 2002 page program.

Edmund's MySpace entry, where he goes by "EDMO!," also mentions lacrosse and dancing among his interests. But chiefly, he wrote, "Politics is my passion; I love the game . . . I grew up all over the place but I call San Diego home."

In the instant messages, Foley mentions a San Diego meeting with the former page to whom he is writing.

In the section headed "Who I'd like to meet," Edmund says: "I don't know, but I do know who I don't want to meet. Stupid people, people who don't like politics (politicians make your [expletive] laws)."

Edmund's allegiance to the GOP, say some, raises one of the biggest questions about him: Why would a young man with seemingly such a bright future in the Republican Party save messages so potentially damaging to it?

"He's a very personable guy and . . . certainly a rising star," said one page who served with Edmund in 2002 and who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.

posted by Blicero : 10/07/2006 07:18:00 PM